Return of the Invisible Auxiliaries: Syntax Notes From Last Week

[joyeuse13]

Generative Grammar:

Phrase structure rules - how elements fit together to form a phrase

Sentence = NP (noun phrase) + VP (verb phrase)

NP = (Det) (Adj) N (PP)

Etc

Transformational grammar: emphasis on phrases, Chomsky wanted to use as few rules as possible.  Transformational rules: how to change phrases into questions, commands, etc.

Chomsky: we are all born w/ innate linguistic knowledge-shouldn’t be complicated, should be universal to all human language, bc children can learn all languages; he was trying to define those universal rules: they should not be very complicated.  However, he eventually had to abandon this idea, as rules got applied to more languages, they turned out to be  very complicated.

Phrase formation:

Lexical Categories can be heads of phrases

N, V, Adj, Adv, Prep

But there are only 4 kinds of phrases:

·         NP: the children

·         VP: stopped immediately

·         PP: at the corner (PP always contains an NP: at the corner = 2 phrases: whole thing is a PP, object is a NP)

·         Adj P: short of supplies (whole phrase must act as a descriptor in rest of sentence)

·         There can be adverb phrases, but book does not consider them.

Tests for phrase structure:

1. Substitution: if you can substitute the entire phrase for a single word, the phrase matches the category of the single word.  Eg, The children went to the movies: They go to the movies; The children did; The children went there.
2. Movement: if you can move a set of words to another place in the sentence, it’s a phrase (doesn’t work w/ all phrases)
3. Coordination: can you connect w/ a conjunction?  Stopped at the corner and waited…
4. Question test: put the phrase in a question: What did they do?  Where did they go? Etc.

X’ Theory

All phrases have same structure.

(specifier) head (complement)

Order is fixed in an individual language, but not across all languages: in some languages, order is reversed.

Phrase type is determined by category of head.

Must have a head; specifiers and complements are optional.

XP (X = all types of phrases): structure is either:

X (head) + Complement  OR

Specifier + X’ (head + complement)

Not all words can be specifiers for all lexical categories:

·         Det = specifier for NP

·         Adv = specifier for VP

·         Deg = specifier for Adj P and PP  (to be a degree word, it must function as and adverb)

See tables pp 163, 165 for what kinds of words can be complements for what other words.

Drawing X’ Trees:

1)     First indicate type of category for each word in phrase; draw a vertical line connecting words to categories.

2)     Go up to X’ level and look for complement.  Look for determiner.  Connect.  Always connect a  complement to an X’ level.  Always connect a specifier to a whole phrase at the XP level.

Use a triangle to indicate that you are not analyzing whole phrase  (see p159)

X’ Theory for sentences:

Sentence = IP = Inflectional Phrase.

NP is Specifier; VP is complement; I (inflection) is head.

+pst = verb in past tense

-pst = Verb in any other tense

Put pst marker over aux verb that indicates tense; if no aux verb, just put pst marker by itself!!  See pp 160-161.

Inflection counts as head; therefore aux verb must be head here, though in phrases they normally wouldn’t.  This means aux verbs are not part of the Verb Phrase.